By Brenda Hopf, Connecting Creed and Life
“He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and His kingdom will have no end.” (cf. CCC 668-682)
For centuries, Christians around the world have had a fascination with signs, timelines and specula-tions about the end times. Inquiring minds want to know exactly when and how Christ will return.
When I was growing up, I remember hearing bits and pieces of conversations about the end of the world and it would make me very anxious. Time and time again the predictions would fall short and life on earth would go on. This preoccupation of some to predict Christ’s second coming is a useless distraction and falls short of being any help in understanding this mystery of our faith. The truth is we have been living in the end times since Jesus ascended into heaven and no one knows when Jesus will come again.
The Christian life is not simply about waiting for the end; it is about living in the reality that Christ’s kingdom is already present among us, though not yet fully revealed. The Church has always under-stood that Jesus reigns even now at the right hand of the Father, as affirmed in CCC 668: “Christ is Lord of the cosmos and of history.” His kingdom is not distant; it is both already here and still unfold-ing. That we experience Christian life both through our relationship with Christ who is the head of the Church and through the Body of Christ here on earth, is essential.
Contained within the Christian life is a real battle with evil. We allow earthly distractions to cloud our awareness of Jesus and His Kingdom. Social media, sports, material possessions, food and even our rela-tionships can become idols that replace God in our daily lives. We forget that life is short and that at any given moment we could find ourselves face-to-face with Jesus.
So, what can we do keep our focus on the king-dom — both the earthly kingdom and the heavenly kingdom? Although it may make us feel a bit uncomfortable, I’d like to suggest that the daily ancient practice of Memento Mori — Latin for
“remember you will die” — could go a long way to open our eyes to the fact that life is temporary and every day is a gift meant to prepare us for eternity. St. Augustine captured this truth when he wrote, “It is necessary to die, but nobody wants to; and since you cannot avoid death, learn not to fear it.” Say what? Learn not to fear death? This is quite a chal-lenge for most of us, but reminding ourselves that death is a part of life should help bring us to the realization that how we live today matters pro-foundly. Our every choice and every action today will impact the day of our death when we will stand before Jesus as well as the final judgment when Christ will come again in glory.
The practice of Memento Mori on a daily basis is not meant to be morbid or instill fear, but rather help us to remember the temporary nature of earth-ly life. This practice should lead us to a greater appreciation of the present moment and a desire to live according to God’s will each day.
As I mentioned earlier, “Christ is the head of the Church, which is his Body.” (CCC 669). The head and body are inseparable; our faith in Christ is incomplete without participation in the life of the Church every single day. It is within community that we experience the kingdom of God on earth. Communal worship and love of neighbor prepare us for the kingdom that will have no end.
As we conclude this section of the Nicene Creed on the Son and reflect on the daily practice of Memento Mori, let us use these words of St. Paul to remind us of who we belong to — in life and in death. “For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:8)
Brenda Hopf is a member of Divine Mercy Parish.